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Under the plea deal, Sandford, who suffers from autism, will not be able to appeal.

His mother, Lynne Sandford, confirmed her son had signed a plea deal.

"I was very relieved that he signed it," Mrs Sandford said.

Michael Sandford, mum Lynne and sister Jessica

"It was a bit of a battle because he is quite headstrong. But we all laid the options out there for him on the table and, of course, it is a gamble.”

Mrs Sandford previously said her son is extremely vulnerable and suffers from various mental health issues including autism, anxiety, depression and anorexia, and said he would not have foreseen the consequences of his actions.

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The family’s lawyer, Saimo Chahal, said she is also hopeful a psychiatric report will play a key part in the defence.

“We are regularly in touch with the public defender’s office in Nevada,” Chapel said.

Lynne Sandford: 'Bring Michael Sandford home'

“Our main aim would be to try and secure Michael’s repatriation to the UK so that he can be assisted in a medical facility.”

Ms Sandford has previously said that her son had a number of mental health conditions - including autism, severe OCD, anxiety, depression and previously anorexia - and had previously tried to take his own life twice.

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She and her son had only "erratic" contact after he travelled to New Jersey, and the next time she saw him was on TV being frogmarched out of the Trump rally.

Michael Sandford (Image: DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE)

Continuing she said: "He feels in limbo because the trial keeps getting put back. He doesn't know how to cope with each day, let alone any longer than that.

"In some ways he's very young - like a little boy in a man's body.

"This was completely out of character: he's never hurt anybody, never had any inclination to hurt anybody. He's always been the opposite: very kind, very polite and well-mannered and considerate."

More than £32,000 has been raised on a crowdfunding page set up to help the family pay for legal fees.